Picoreview: Man of Steel

Picoreview: Man of Steel: I may have a new favorite superhero movie. Wow. This and X2 and I don’t know, maaaaaaaaaaaybe Avengers, which I loved but didn’t hit all the grace notes the way X2 did for me, but anyway, yeah, wow. It’s clear not everybody agrees with me, which is perfectly reasonable. I’ve seen reviews that think this is a movie without joy or delight or charm. I completely disagree, but possibly should offer up a Heretical Disclaimer along with that disagreement: As with the Star Wars movies, I…

Continue Reading

the essential kit

Picoreview: Moulin Rouge

Picoreview: Moulin Rouge is still exactly the kind of thing you’d like if you like that kind of thing, and definitely not if you don’t. One of the local cinemas is doing a Baz Luhrmann month running up to his Gatsby this week, so Ted and I went to see Moulin Rouge (still can’t type that without typing Rogue first) last night, for probably the 3rd or 4th time on a big screen for me, at least. I’ve no doubt become more accustomed to Nichole Kidman’s voice through repeated listening…

Continue Reading

the essential kit

Picoreview: Fast & Furious 6

Picoreview: Fast & Furious 6 does what it says on the tin. I won tickets to see a preview and Ted, who is a most excellent husband, told me to go ahead and go, despite the impracticalities thereof. So I wrangled up a friend and we went. It is a completely ridiculous movie. There are moments of inhuman feats so outrageous one wonders when Vin & Crew got the Superhero upgrade. There are two epic lady fights. There are fast cars. There are explosions. There are basically two white dudes…

Continue Reading

the essential kit

Picoreview: Emma (Kate Beckinsale version)

Picoreview: Emma (Kate Beckinsale tv movie version, 1997): flawed, but not quite in the right ways. I just re-read EMMA last year, so the narrative is fairly fresh in my mind. The real problem with Kate Beckinsale’s Emma is that with one painful exception, Emma doesn’t come across as nearly as awful as she is in the book. Too much of her meddling and the emotional turmoil thereof is left off the screen for brevity’s sake, so I was left feeling she was more…misguided, rather than downright dreadful, which she…

Continue Reading

the essential kit

*yawn*

Last night I went to see Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo+Juliet, because I’d never seen it and they’re doing a Luhrmann month at one of the cinemas to lead up to Gatsby. (Picoreview: It was pretty good. Bits felt like a dry run for Moulin Rouge, but it was pretty good.) Upon arriving at the Lighthouse Cinema I discovered there was a Star Trek party scheduled for a midnight premiere. Upon *leaving* R+J, I ran into friends…who had a spare ticket. I did not go. Somewhat grumpily and bitterly and regretfully, I…

Continue Reading